The one I really wish I had been able to try was Dupont Varigam. All the greats raved about it, and mourned its passing. I do remember Ilfomar, and when Stan C. Reade Photo in London, ON hard of its discontinuation, urged me to buy a bunch. I was very cash-strapped at the time, so I didn't, but now I'm wishing I had robbed a bank or something.

Kodabromide

This past weekend I found a 500 sheet box of Kodabromide on the F surface/grade 2 and two 100 sheet boxes in the G surface/grades 2+4. All of the boxes had been unopened. I made a print yesterday with the F surface (glossy) and developed in Zone VI dev. at 1:3. The paper is quite good. The poster who said that the paper reminded them of AZO is correct. The paper has quite a long scale and prints easily. I am very pleased because I only paid $25 for all 700 sheets. Seems a real shame that Kodak always discontinues the good stuff. In real world terms the modern papers are quite good and there's no sense in lamenting the loss of the "great" papers. In the end it's still the image that ends up on the paper that counts.
Regards, Peter

I have never been put off by those who claim any paper older than a few months is bad. I have Kodabromide, Brovira, Varilour etc which is almost as old as I am and works fine.
Here's an interesting thing with Kodabromide. I thought that because it was old tech with cadmium it should make colourful lith prints. To my surprise what you actually get is a normal print with enhanced blacks-like AZO.
If you think your blacks are weak develop in dilute lith developer. Adjust your exposure so that highlights are correct by the time you get good blacks
Mark

Kodabromide A was unique in that the 'A' designation referred to the thickness of the paper and not the surface. It was designed to be so pliable that the print could actually be folded without cracking the emulsion. I imagine it was meant to be bound in books. Kodabromide was, to my knowledge, the only paper to carry that mark.

The only thing I can find about my Kodabromide which is different than a "new" paper is that the actual paper base isn't a pure white, actually an off white. I was told this is normal. Try comparing your base white to another paper and see what you have tim